VATICAN: Relations between Christians and Muslims are strengthening in Pakistan, newly appointed Archbishop of Lahore maintains.

Archbishop of Lahore Sebastian Shaw

Archbishop Sebastian Shaw while representing Pakistan in the assemblage of the Pontifical Council for Inter religious Dialogue maintained that the Christian-Muslim dialogue is steadily making progress in Pakistan. The Pontifical Council for Inter religious Dialogue delved into their latest theme: “Members of different religious traditions in civil society”.

The meeting also assessed issues including, how is interfaith dialogue helping to ease tensions between members of different religious communities? How easy is it to find common ground with believers of other faith traditions? And what role does the state play in guaranteeing full religious freedom for all members of multi-faith societies? These questions were explicitly on the schema at a plenary meeting of the Pontifical Council for Inter religious Dialogue which took place in the Vatican this week, with the participation of Catholic leaders from all over the world. The plenary meeting of the Pontifical Council for Inter religious Dialogue concluded on Thursday, 28 November, 2013.

Meeting with the assembled on Thursday, at the wrapping up of the four day session, Pope Francis restated his belief that “An attitude of openness in truth and love must prevail in dialogue with believers of non-Christian religions, despite the various obstacles and difficulties, particularly fundamentalism on both sides.”

Accompanying the Asian leaders who attended the meeting was the newly appointed Archbishop of Lahore told Philippa Hitchen that despite the many difficulties facing Christians in his country, interfaith dialogue is slowly improving relations with the majority Muslim community….

Bishop Sebastian Francis Shaw, serving as the Auxiliary Bishop of Lahore since 2009, has been recently appointed by Pope Francis as the new Archbishop of Lahore. The Franciscan bishop, 56 has also served as the Apostolic Administrator of the Archdiocese after Archbishop Lawrence Saldhana retired in April, 2011. The ecclesiastical territory of Lahore has the dioceses of Faisalabad, Islamabad-Rawalpindi and Multan as suffragans. Bishop Sebastian Shaw previously participated in the 13th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops held in the Vatican, Oct. 7 to 28, 2012, on the theme: “The New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith,” under Pope Benedict XVI.